A growing group of former State Department and USAID officials—some of whom were recently terminated under President Trump’s administration—are now reportedly using the same tools they once applied abroad to destabilize foreign regimes in an effort to resist Trump’s domestic agenda.
According to a report by NOTUS, many of these ousted bureaucrats, once tasked with promoting democracy overseas, are turning their experience inward—organizing opposition and encouraging resistance against what they claim is an authoritarian turn under Trump.
The administration is in the process of dissolving large portions of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), aiming to bring the agency’s mission in line with Trump’s “America First” foreign policy. Thousands of positions are being phased out by September.
But rather than fading quietly into retirement, some former officials are reportedly mobilizing.
“Some of the democracy-building experts President Donald Trump fired this year… are now reapplying the skills and knowledge they built up over decades to undermine Trump’s power,” wrote NOTUS reporter Jose Pagliery.
One current federal employee, speaking anonymously, warned, “Take it from those of us who worked in authoritarian countries: We’ve become one.” The source claimed Trump’s move to dismantle USAID was a strategic error. “You just released a bunch of well-trained individuals into your population.”
According to the report, former officials are hosting secretive “noncooperation” workshops and distributing an old CIA manual titled Simple Sabotage among sympathetic federal workers still inside the government. Their goal: to inspire small acts of defiance and, eventually, trigger a general strike.
This network reportedly includes ex-diplomats and human rights activists—some of whom were previously involved in democracy promotion efforts in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. One such group, “DemocracyAID,” is already hosting invite-only strategy sessions with current federal employees, modeled after underground resistance movements like Denmark’s during World War II.
Ro Tucci, former director of USAID’s Center for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance, is said to be leading workshops on “Authoritarianism 101,” training attendees in grassroots resistance and long-term disruption tactics.
Deputy White House Press Secretary Anna Kelly condemned the effort in a statement to NOTUS, calling it a direct assault on democratic governance.
“It is inherently undemocratic for unelected bureaucrats to undermine the duly elected President of the United States and the agenda he was given a mandate to implement.”
Despite the administration’s confidence in staying on course, NOTUS reported that several participants in the anti-Trump network liken themselves to members of a resistance movement—jokingly referring to the president’s administration as “the Empire,” drawing from Star Wars comparisons.
“Fascism isn’t very creative,” said one former official. “That’s why counter-strategies remain effective. We know the playbook—and we know how to fight back.”
Meanwhile, a senior State Department official told Fox News Digital that the department is unaware of these reports but emphasized its commitment to national security and vigilance against both internal and external threats.
“We will continue to take every precaution to protect the State Department from internal and external threats,” the official said.
As the Trump administration presses forward with sweeping reforms and restructuring, the quiet but coordinated resistance from within Washington’s former diplomatic corps signals that the battle over Trump’s agenda isn’t only playing out in Congress—but behind closed doors.
